This invention relates to hair coloring apparatus, generally, and to a comb-like apparatus and method particularly adapted for selectively coloring narrow strands of hair to create a streak effect.
Various apparatus are known which employ comb-like devices with attached applicator members for applying hair coloring ingredient. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,660,182 issued Nov. 24, 1953 to Kaul and U.S. Pat. No. 1,704,492 issued Mar. 5, 1929 to Warren, rotary applicators are movably and fixedly mounted in side-by-side relation with respect to a comb to color all the hair passing through the comb. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,164,073 issued Jun. 27, 1939 to Madore a brush or removable wads of cotton at the back of a comb is used as the applicator for all the strands passing through the comb. Likewise, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,761,499 issued Sep. 4, 1956 to Kaul, a brush applicator is mounted for pivotal movement from a load position spaced from a pair of parallel combs to an application position in which it is located between a pair of combs and extend across all the teeth of the comb to color all the hair passing therethrough.
While these various apparatus function more or less successfully to color hair, they are not capable of functioning to selectively color only selected narrow strands of hair, since the applicators extend across the entire length of the associated comb structures rather than being capable of applying color only to selected strands of hair which pass through individual pairs of adjacent teeth members of the comb.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,472 issued Jan. 28, 1986 of Mueller et al., color ingredient is provided in between selected adjacent pairs of teeth of the comb so that only selected strands of hair which pass between these selected pairs of teeth are colored. Unfortunately, instead of an applicator, the color ingredient is dispersed directly from a fluid holding chamber. Disadvantageously, the fluid holding chamber is fixedly attached to the comb and thus must be carefully filled with ingredient through use of a complicated and cumbersome procedure requiring a removable template to protect the comb from being contaminated with coloring ingredient at tooth locations at which no color is to be applied.